IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs November 12, 2014 STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ANGEL MANUEL RIVERA Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2009-D-3057 Monte Watkins, Judge No. M2013-01810-CCA-R3-CD - Filed September 16, 2015 A Davidson County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Angel Manuel Rivera, of first degree felony murder, second degree murder, attempted especially aggravated robbery, and three counts of aggravated assault. After merging the murder convictions, the trial court imposed a total effective sentence of life plus five years. On appeal, the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence sustaining his convictions, the trial court’s denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal, the trial court’s permitting witness testimony about the appellant’s character, and the trial court’s failure to allow counsel to withdraw prior to trial. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court are Affirmed. NORMA MCGEE OGLE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN and ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, JR., JJ., joined. Eugenia Grayer, Nashville, Tennessee (on appeal), and Paul Walwyn, Madison, Tennessee (at trial), for the appellant, Angel Manuel Rivera. Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General & Reporter; Clark B. Thornton, Senior Counsel; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Deborah Housel and Roger Moore, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION I. Factual Background A Davidson County Grand Jury returned a multi-count indictment against the appellant, charging him with the first degree felony murder of James Wade, the first degree premeditated murder of James Wade, the especially aggravated robbery of James Wade, the aggravated assault of Kira Ford, the aggravated assault of Kourtney Bearden, and the aggravated assault of Michael Sullivan. The charges stemmed from a home invasion that occurred on July 9, 2009. At trial, Kira Ford testified that on July 9, 2009, she was living in the Hermitage area of Nashville with her boyfriend, James Wade; Kourtney Bearden; and Michael Sullivan. Ford said that Wade and the appellant had been friends for years. The appellant frequently came by their residence to visit and had attended a party they had on July 4, 2009. Ford said that on July 9, 2009, she and Wade were in the back bedroom when they heard Bearden and Sullivan, who were in the living room, announce that the appellant had arrived. Wade walked into the living room to see the appellant. The appellant brandished a gun at Wade, Bearden, and Sullivan. Ford, who had been following a few steps behind Wade, saw the appellant with the gun and began to retreat toward the bedroom. Two men who were with the appellant stopped her and made her walk into the living room. She could not recall if the men with the appellant touched her. The men made Ford sit on the couch with Wade; Bearden and Sullivan sat on another couch facing them. The victims began screaming and begged the appellant to stop pointing the gun at them, but he ignored them. Ford said that one of the men with the appellant was wearing a hunting mask, and the other had a bandana covering the bottom part of his face. Ford did not think they were armed. All of the appellant’s clothing was black, and he was wearing a black hat; however, his face was not covered. While the appellant kept a gun pointed at the residents, the two men went to other rooms in the house. Ford did not know what they were doing; her attention was focused on the gun. Ford recalled that Wade stood up from the couch, asked the appellant what he was doing, and told the appellant that he would call the police when the appellant left. The appellant said, “I know you are.” Wade said, “I can’t believe you’re doing this, you have been my friend for so many years.” The appellant pointed the gun directly at Wade, and Ford begged Wade to return to his seat on the couch. Wade asked the appellant to stop and took one step forward. The appellant told Wade to sit down, and when he did not comply, the appellant shot him. Wade fell immediately to the floor. Ford said that after the shot was fired, the two men accompanying the appellant returned to the living room, and all three men ran out of the house. Ford ran to the door, locked it, and called 911. She then went to Wade, who was lying face-up on the floor, and held him until the paramedics arrived. Wade was not bleeding much, but Bearden got a towel to place on his wound. Wade began turning blue, and Ford shook him to keep him -2- awake. Shortly thereafter, an ambulance arrived and transported Wade to Vanderbilt Hospital. Ford called Wade’s mother and told her of the incident. The police arrived and spoke with Ford, Bearden, and Sullivan. The police then took them to the Hermitage precinct for further questioning. Ford told the officers that the appellant shot Wade. While at the precinct, Ford received a call from Wade’s mother, informing her that Wade had passed away. A few days later, the police showed Ford a photograph lineup, from which she positively identified the appellant. Ford said that after the incident, she went to the bedroom and saw that some drawers had been opened, a wooden box had been turned over, and other items had been tossed around the room. She noticed that Wade’s wallet, cellular telephone, and coins he had collected were gone. Her iPod and forty dollars were also missing. On the bed, Ford found an empty wooden box in which they had kept movie tickets. Ford acknowledged that Wade had been growing a couple of marijuana plants in the closet. She said that he smoked marijuana but that he was not a drug dealer. Ford told Detective Jennings that two men had been to the house with the appellant a couple of nights before the incident and that she thought they were the men who were with the appellant on the night of the incident. Ford explained that the men were “tall and skinny . [with] a lot of tattoos,” just like the men she had seen previously with the appellant. On cross-examination, Ford said that she and Wade rented the house from Wade’s parents. They had lived at the residence for approximately two years. Bearden and Sullivan, who were unemployed, had lived with them rent-free for less than two months. Ford said that the appellant did not have any problems with her or Wade. Ford recalled that when the two men came to her house with the appellant a couple of days before the offense, [t]hey didn’t want to come inside and they weren’t speaking a lot to me. They were reluctant to give me their names, and they looked down a lot. They were – didn’t seem like very trustworthy people to me. Ford said that on the night of the incident, the appellant acted “angry, like he was going to rob us and kill us.” She had never seen the appellant behave that way. She estimated that the entire incident lasted three to five minutes. Ford did not see the appellant ask anyone for their property or take anything from the house. She said that Wade took a “[p]retty slow step” toward the appellant. Wade was not wearing a shirt and did not appear -3- threatening. Michael Patrick Sullivan testified that on July 9, 2009, he and his then-girlfriend, Bearden, had been living in the basement of Wade’s house for approximately one month. During that time, the appellant had been to Wade’s house three or four times, including attending a Fourth of July party. On the evening of July 9, Sullivan and Bearden were in the living room watching television, and Wade was in the shower. Sullivan did not know where Ford was. Sullivan said that they had left the front door “wide open.” The appellant “poked his head in the door” and asked for Wade. Sullivan yelled for Wade then went to inform him of the appellant’s arrival. Sullivan said that when Wade came into the living room, the appellant pulled out a small, black handgun, possibly a nine millimeter. Sullivan did not know where the appellant had concealed the gun. At the appellant’s behest, Ford also came into the living room. The appellant pointed the gun at each of them. Fearing for his life, Sullivan tried to be compliant. After the victims sat down, the appellant called two men into the house. The men did not appear to be armed. While the appellant kept a gun pointed at the victims, the two men began rummaging through the house. Sullivan said that he did not know the men and that he did not see their faces clearly; however, he recognized them as “skinnier white males” from the neighborhood who had been to the house with the appellant on July 4. Sullivan said that he felt threatened but could not recall anything the appellant said. Sullivan recalled that Wade was angry that strangers were in his house, taking his things. Wade encouraged the appellant to leave, then they started “bickering,” and the situation “escalated.” When Wade stood and took a step toward the appellant, the appellant shot Wade. Sullivan said that the appellant “aimed low.